Research Enterprise Newsletter - December 2008: Procurement News
As your Research Procurement Team, our mission is to help the Research Community with contract negotiations and supplier management.
Did you know?
End of year Purchases - The end of the year is quickly approaching and with the Holiday's and vacations this season brings, it's important to get your requisitions for capital items submitted as early as possible. To ensure your orders are placed by us before the end of the year, your requisitions should be delivered to Procurement Services by December 15th. This gives enough time to get them data entered and, if necessary, to negotiate Terms and Conditions.
Use of Vanderbilt's name or logo for product or discount consideration - Some suppliers will offer a free or discounted product in exchange to use our name or logo in their media or if we mention their name in future research publications. Vanderbilt does not and should not allow any association with a product that is or appears to be an endorsement of that product.
This is generally not an appropriate use of Vanderbilt's name, and there are many issues to be considered as to whether or not this is permissible. As a tax exempt organization, Vanderbilt may not use its tax exempt status to promote the use or sale of a product of a for-profit entity. There are other regulatory issues, such as the Anti-kickback statute as well as the Vanderbilt Conflict of Interest policy that also need to be considered. Therefore, any offer must be reviewed by the Office of General Counsel and/or the Compliance Office and approved from the News and Public Affairs department before we agree to these offers.
University Confidentiality policy and how it relates to our relationship with Suppliers - Vanderbilt University is committed to fair and ethical business practices that encourages competition and enhances our supplier relationships. A cornerstone of this policy is maintaining the confidentiality of all supplier proposals, quotations, prices, contracts and other proprietary materials by all Vanderbilt University employees. Confidential materials are not to be disclosed in any way to other suppliers, outside organizations or to any unauthorized persons. As a private university, we are not in anyway, obligated to do so. Disclosure of confidential materials is not only professionally unethical and damaging to Vanderbilt's future negotiation position; it also exposes Vanderbilt to possible legal action. If you have questions about any request to provide information concerning Vanderbilt contracts, pricing, supplier proposals or requirements, please contact the Procurement Services office for guidance. For information regarding Vanderbilt's Compliance Program, visit vanderbilt.edu/compliance/.
For any questions or if you need assistance, please contact your appropriate Purchasing Agent or send an email to Michael Jessing.
Method changes for ITS Software Store orders
Starting December 1, 2008, ITS will no longer accept an 1180 as the method of payment for software purchases. Instead, orders will be placed and approved online (its.vanderbilt.edu/softwarestore). Software will be distributed via electronic download.
In the past, Software Store orders were approved by people with 1180 signature authority. ITS has been advised that Software Store orders should instead be approved by e-Procurement Executors. Reasons for this recommendation include:
- The e-Procurement Executor database is more highly maintained than the 1180 signature authority database
- Expenditure approval by an e-Procurement Executor provides Vanderbilt with improved control and accountability over its finances
In many cases, a person who has 1180 signature authority also has e-Procurement Executor status. If you need to be set up with e-Procurement Executor status so that you can continue to approve ITS Software Store orders after November 30th, please follow the process outlined at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/procurement/eprocurement/access1.shtml.
The new method for purchasing software is outlined below:
- Customer logs into its.vanderbilt.edu/softwarestore with a VUnet ID and password
- Customer browses the product catalog and adds items to his shopping cart
- Customer provides the center number he wishes to use for the purchase
- The Software Store pushes an order confirmation by email to the customer
- The customer notifies an order approver (i.e. a person with e-Procurement Executor status) in his department that a pending order needs to be approved. Alternatively, if the order approver has elected to receive automatic notification from the Software Store, the Software Store will push an email alert to the order approver.
- An order approver logs into the Software Store and approves or rejects the order
- For approved orders, the Store pushes an email to the customer with information on how to download the software
- An order approver may choose to receive email notification for pending orders that reference centers he manages. To opt into the email alert service, log into the Store and check "Enabled" next to the "Email Notice for Budget Approval" function under "My Profile".
- Order approvers may use the Software Store to view and export sales reports for the centers they manage.
- Departments with multiple approvers may wish to assign the role of approving orders to one approver. This approver would be responsible for logging into the Store to approve or reject pending orders.
- For some departments the local IT support staff (LAN Managers) serve as the software purchasing agents and software installers for the department's end users. If a department wishes to control who can place Software Store orders and install software, the department can ask its approvers to only approve orders submitted by LAN Managers. Other departments may elect to enable end users to place their own orders and install their own software.
